Give the Kids Their Documentaries
Filmmakers, and adults in general, need to do a better job of trusting young people to take in and understand how the world works.
电影制片人和一般成年人需要更好地相信年轻人能够接受并理解世界是如何运作的。
We as artists can tell them stories that are incisive and entertaining.
我们作为艺术家可以给他们讲深刻而有趣的故事。
They can think critically about labor, economy, gender, class, and other issues.
他们可以批判性地思考劳动力、经济、性别、阶级和其他问题。
In the process, they’ll gain knowledge about the world around them and direct experience with the power of storytelling itself.
在此过程中，他们将获得有关周围世界的知识，并直接体验讲故事本身的力量。
When my kids were 9 and 11, they set out a challenge for me as a mom and an artist: to make my next film one they would want to share with their friends.
当我的孩子 9 岁和 11 岁的时候，他们给我作为一个母亲和一个艺术家提出了一个挑战：让我的下一部电影成为他们愿意与朋友分享的电影。
It felt like an exciting and worthwhile pursuit.
这感觉像是一次令人兴奋且值得的追求。
I make documentaries, and none of my previous films were specifically intended for young audiences.
我制作纪录片，我以前的电影都不是专门针对年轻观众的。
However, I wanted the ideas within them about social issues, community, and self-invention to be accessible to kids and adults alike.
然而，我希望其中关于社会问题、社区和自我发明的想法能够为儿童和成人所理解。
My most recent documentary, Cookie Queens , began soon after my kids issued their challenge, when my producer told me a story about a young woman who got him to empty his wallet buying Girl Scout cookies.
我最近的一部纪录片《饼干女王》是在我的孩子们发出挑战后不久开始的，当时我的制片人给我讲了一个故事，讲述的是一位年轻女子让他掏空钱包购买女童子军饼干的故事。
She complimented his looks and got his family’s attention, and then suddenly her mom appeared from around the corner with a wagon full of cookies.
她称赞他的外表并引起了他家人的注意，然后突然她妈妈推着一辆装满饼干的马车从拐角处出现。
Listening to him talk about his surprise at this young woman’s savvy, I realized that the story of Girl Scout cookies could speak to people of all ages and operate on many levels.
听他讲述他对这个年轻女子的悟性感到惊讶，我意识到女童子军饼干的故事可以讲给所有年龄段的人，并且可以在很多层面上发挥作用。
It had irresistible nostalgia and plucky kids.
它有不可抗拒的怀旧之情和勇敢的孩子们。
It could also examine the way girls and women are perceived, and see themselves, and how those two views are often not in sync.
它还可以研究人们对女孩和妇女的看法和看待自己的方式，以及这两种观点通常如何不一致。
What does it mean to age as a girl?
作为一个女孩，变老意味着什么？
What expectations and assumptions do people have of us?
人们对我们有什么期望和假设？
The cookies were a way into looking at girlhood and capitalism, and also into my own parallel experience, as a parent of ambitious kids, and as a woman-artist who has to sell my “cookies,” by which I mean get my work seen and funded.
这些饼干是观察少女时代和资本主义的一种方式，也是我自己的类似经历的一种方式，作为雄心勃勃的孩子的父母，以及作为一名必须出售我的“饼干”的女艺术家，我的意思是让我的作品被看到并获得资助。
A free conversation on social impact documentary filmmaking, and the premiere of the 2026 Girls’ Voices Now short docs, followed by a hosted reception.
关于社会影响力纪录片制作的免费对话，以及 2026 年《Girls’ Voices Now》短片首映，随后举办了招待会。
I knew that the movie was going to show the ways kids learn about the economy and their place in it, and how the playing field isn’t level.
我知道这部电影将展示孩子们如何了解经济及其在经济中的地位，以及竞争环境如何不公平。
I thought that for audiences to see that through Girl Scout cookies might be less dry than seeing it through education or healthcare, or the other typical high-stakes ways we learn about inequity.
我认为，对于观众来说，通过女童子军饼干看到的内容可能比通过教育或医疗保健或我们了解不平等的其他典型高风险方式看到的内容要少一些。
The cookies would be honey on the razor’s edge.
饼干就像是刀锋上的蜂蜜。
The first step was to find a group of Girl Scouts whose experiences could carry the larger themes of this story.
第一步是找到一群女童子军，他们的经历可以承载这个故事的更大主题。
I didn’t care so much about how many cookies the girls had sold, except as an indicator of who was really passionate about this activity.
我不太关心女孩们卖了多少饼干，只是作为一个指标来表明谁真正热衷于这项活动。
Over hundreds of Zoom interviews, my casting director and I asked Girl Scouts about their “whys,” taking into account their ages, where they lived, and their family dynamics and backgrounds to try to find a cross section of America today.
在数百次 Zoom 采访中，我和我的选角导演向女童子军询问了她们的“原因”，考虑到她们的年龄、居住地、家庭动态和背景，试图找到当今美国的横截面。
Then, I visited nine families, spending a few days with them without a camera, before selecting seven girls to film.
然后，我拜访了九个家庭，在没有相机的情况下与他们相处了几天，然后选择了七个女孩进行拍摄。
During the editing process, we settled on four main stories.
在剪辑过程中，我们确定了四个主要故事。
The four “cookie queens” the movie follows live in San Diego, El Paso, Los Angeles, and Charlotte.
电影中的四位“饼干女王”分别生活在圣地亚哥、埃尔帕索、洛杉矶和夏洛特。
One has type 1 diabetes and often can’t eat the cookies she’s selling.
一位患有 1 型糖尿病，经常不能吃她出售的饼干。
Another is trying to sell enough cookies to go to Girl Scout camp, and her parents are worried about going into debt if they don’t hit their goal.
另一个人正试图出售足够的饼干去女童子军营地，她的父母担心如果达不到目标就会负债累累。
Another is trying to live up to her older sisters’ legacy as they age out of Girl Scouts.
另一个人正努力不辜负姐姐们留下的遗产，因为她们随着年龄的增长而退出了女童子军。
The last is breaking her own sales records and questioning why her troop only gets $1 in profits off every $6 box.
最后一个是打破她自己的销售记录，并质疑为什么她的团队每 6 美元一盒只能获得 1 美元的利润。
From the beginning, I committed to shooting Cookie Queens entirely observationally.
从一开始，我就致力于完全通过观察来拍摄《饼干皇后》。
There aren’t any interviews; it’s all in the moment, present tense.
没有任何采访；一切都在当下，现在时。
I wanted to keep the audience in the girls’ world.
我想让观众留在女孩的世界里。
The bigger themes and social issues arise naturally, anchored in the girls’ emotions and experiences as they live their lives.
更大的主题和社会问题自然而然地出现，植根于女孩们生活中的情感和经历。
One of the girls in the movie said recently in a press interview, when you love something a lot, you’re going to be critical about it—you want it to be better.
电影中的一位女孩最近在接受媒体采访时表示，当你非常喜欢某件事时，你就会对它持批评态度——你希望它变得更好。
She was talking about the Girl Scouts organization, and her advocacy to get more profits into the hands of troops.
她谈论的是女童子军组织，以及她倡导将更多利润交到部队手中的主张。
But I think it’s true for my audiences, too.
但我认为这对我的观众来说也是如此。
If you can care about the fact that it’s not fair for Girl Scouts to only get $1 per box of cookies they sell, or that families risk going into debt to buy cookies in order to send their kids to Girl Scout camp, then you may also care about how American families commonly go into debt to pay for their children’s healthcare, school, and other basic needs.
如果你关心女童子军每售出一盒饼干只获得 1 美元是不公平的，或者家庭为了送孩子去女童子军营地而冒着负债购买饼干的风险，那么你可能还会关心美国家庭通常如何负债来支付孩子的医疗保健、学校和其他基本需求。
I’ve been going to screenings around the country with a lot of kids in the audience (including my own kids, who did invite their friends to the premiere—mom mission accomplished!), and the conversations have been illuminating.
我去过全国各地的放映会，观众中有很多孩子（包括我自己的孩子，他们确实邀请了他们的朋友来参加首映——妈妈的任务完成了！），而且这些对话很有启发性。
Young people ask the Girl Scouts in the film about the pressures they face.
年轻人向电影中的女童子军询问他们面临的压力。
They ask for the girls’ advice on how to advocate for the change they want to see in the world.
他们就如何倡导她们希望在世界上看到的改变向女孩们寻求建议。
There’s value in young people enjoying themselves while watching longer format, nonfiction storytelling.
年轻人在观看较长格式的非小说类故事时享受乐趣是有价值的。
They see themselves reflected onscreen and also get the chance to think about what it means to tell a real story, a true story.
他们看到自己在屏幕上的反映，也有机会思考讲述一个真实的故事意味着什么。
When watching a documentary, we sense how the camera isn’t showing us everything, so of course there is not a single authoritative truth.
当观看纪录片时，我们感觉到摄像机并没有向我们展示一切，所以当然没有一个权威的事实。
We see that there are many authentic truths, and those are worth bearing witness to, thinking critically about, and discussing.
我们看到，有很多真实的真理，值得见证、思考、讨论。
I hope some of the young viewers of Cookie Queens will one day find ways to share their own stories.
我希望《饼干皇后》的一些年轻观众有一天能够找到分享自己故事的方法。
I look forward to taking my children and grandchildren to the movies to see them.
我期待着带我的孩子和孙子去看电影。
Alysa Nahmias is a filmmaker and founder of AJNA Films .
艾莉莎·纳米亚斯 (Alysa Nahmias) 是一位电影制片人，也是 AJNA Films 的创始人。
Her directing credits include Cookie Queens , which recently premiered at Sundance and won the SXSW Festival Favorite Audience Award; the Emmy Award-winning Art & Krimes By Krimes ; and Unfinished Spaces , which won a 2012 Film Independent Spirit Award and is in the MoMA collection.
她执导的作品包括最近在圣丹斯电影节首映并荣获 SXSW 电影节最受观众喜爱奖的《Cookie Queens》；荣获艾美奖的 Art & Krimes By Krimes；和《未完成的空间》，荣获 2012 年电影独立精神奖，现为 MoMA 收藏。
Primary editor: Sarah Rothbard | Secondary editor: Eryn Brown
主要编辑：莎拉·罗斯巴德 |二级编辑：Eryn Brown
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